The Cat's Away Dress: a Fabricville project

I finished this dress, my latest project for the Fabricville Blog, a week or two ago. But then the weather turned back into something a little more seasonal, so I couldn't wear it outside to get any pics without turning a shade of blue that would clash with the dress - finally a sunny and not absolutely freezing day arrived & I enjoyed taking some photos to share with you.

To learn more about this dress, check out my post at the Fabricville blog!

It's McCalls 7534 and it's made with a Fabricville quilting cotton -- yes it's true, I can't resist fun prints! Considering my last Fabricville dress was made of quilting cotton adorned with marching elephants, I thought it was only fair that these playful mice got their chance.

I made a few small alterations, including adding pockets -- of course -- but didn't have to change much about this pattern to make it fit me. More information will be shared shortly when my Fabricville Blog post goes up!

 

But I'll leave you with this. Since this IS a dress featuring mice playing while the cat's away (including this image)

I simply had to get out my own hula hoop and play a bit in the backyard. Enjoy!

 

Burda Magazine "Kimono Sweatshirt"

Burda Challenge accepted!

 

I did it -- I made my first pattern from my stack of Burda magazines! This oversized top comes from February 2017's issue (though if you don't have this issue you can always buy just this pattern from the BurdaStyle website too.)

I have at least a year's worth of Burda mags, and have even traced off a couple of patterns already, but I finally used one of my magazines to make a pattern, start to finish. All the factors came together: the pattern was rated "very easy" and is cute, I found the most amazing knit at the thrift store, and the weather is cold right now but I know it won't last long so if I wanted to make this sweatshirt I'd better do it right quick!

This was indeed a very easy pattern, though Burda instructions, as always, assume some sewing knowledge. The only tricky part of this pattern was the inset kangaroo pocket on an angled seam -- I had to read the instructions over three times before I kind of understood the process, and then only with some advance pinning and flipping before I stitched anything down. Of course once it's done it seems pretty obvious. Although Burda never mentions that after sewing the inside top edges of the pocket bag together, you should really slipstitch it to the inside of the top, otherwise the pocket bag sags down below the hem in a very unsightly manner.

I enjoyed making this one, especially since I remembered to add on the seam allowance while cutting, whew...though it's so oversize it probably would have still fit, haha. As this is my first Burda, I didn't quite have a good handle on their sizing, so cut this all in size 44. I think next time I'll cut 42 at shoulders and 44 at hip for a better fit - this is a little larger around the bust than I'd prefer, and really a little larger all around than the model photo.

But with the triangular inset and the fact that I'm not unpicking a zigzag stitch from a sweater knit, I'm going with this look and calling this my Kimono Sweatshirt. On my next try I may follow Lisa's Carolina Handmade's lead and fold an inch out of front centre & back to get it a little closer fitting around the body.

I do love the way the back swings though!

It's super comfortable and matches wonderfully with my vintage Japanese beads (yay!) I wore it to work today and my very accommodating coworker once again took some quick snaps out in the blinding sun in our back parking lot. So please excuse my closed eyes in some of these photos :) In the sun I was quite comfortable despite the cold wind... Spring really is in the air. I'll have to wear this as much as possible before the weather turns and I start in on my summer dresses.